The Cat Who Knew Too Much
The Cat Who Knew Too Much is the first episode of the first season of The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries. Premise Two thugs steal Tweety, who's due to perform in the Cajun Canary Crooning Competition, and only Sylvester can save him. Synopsis Granny, Tweety Bird, Hector, and Sylvester are on a ship to New Orleans. Tweety sings "Oh! Susanna" while Sylvester complains about not getting the "irritating songbird" as a snack. A man then comes up and compliments Tweety on his performance and tells Granny she should enter him in the Cajun Canary Crooning Competition. However, Granny says that they were LAST year's winner, but decides to enter anyway. The man then introduces himself as Louie Z. Anna, and as Granny and Louie continue to flirt with each other, the boys gag in disgust. After this, Granny and the pets arrive at the hotel. Sylvester attempts to do away with Tweety before being beat up by Hector. After putting the bird back in his cage, Dora, Granny's maid, comes in and announces her dislike for animals and says that she refuses to clean up after Granny's pets. Granny then gets a call from Louie, who asks her on a date. An elated Granny song her version of "Buffalo Gals" as she changes, and tells Sylvester to make sure Tweety continues practicing for the Cajun Canary Crooning Competition, and tells Hector to keep an eye on Sylvester... As soon as his owner leaves, Sylvester makes a dive for a certain bird, only to be eaten by a certain bulldog. Sylvester, fortunately, breaks out of Hector's mouth (literally) and, after changing his teeth, Hector gets Tweety prepped for practice, and places his cage right above his bed, so Putty Tat doesn't get any ideas... As Tweety starts to sing, Sylvester gets another idea. He switches Tweety's song book from "Camptown Races" to "Brahms's Lullaby" witch lulls Hector to sleep. After Tweety decides to switch to an upbeat number, two thugs, Rocky and Mugsy, come and canary-nap Tweety! An irate Sylvester declares "Nobody shteals my lunch and getsh away with it!" And goes to save the bird. Meanwhile, at Louie and Granny's date, Granny wonders what she should get. Louie brings out his friend, the cook, and asks for some recommendations. The cook tells Granny some "good" dishes, with every one of them having the word "canary" in its name, which, understandably, makes Granny uncomfortable. Back to Tweety and Sylvester. The thugs have taken Tweety to their hideout, where Rocky beats Mugsy for calling him "game", not realising that Mugsy was referring to their card game. Rocky then tells Mugsy to close the window, because birds could fly In and help Tweety escape. Mugsy does so, not realising that the window was where Sylvester was spying! After Tweety gives a warning to the audience "You Putty Tat wovers might want to cwose youw eyes!", Mugsy shuts Sylvester's fingers in the window. The cat manages to get his paws out of the window before realising he was still in mid- air, and continues to fall into some trash can. The cat then look at his now swollen fingers and says that he would never be able to play the base violin again... Back at the hotel, Hector finally wakes up from his nap and realises that Tweety is gone! Knowing what Granny would do to him if she found out her beloved canary was missing, Hector begins a frantic search around the room, only to come up empty handed. Granny comes in, wearing a giant head, and greets her bulldog with some beads as Hector nervously shoves a paint bucket behind himself. Granny then sees Tweety and puts some beads over his cage, witch causes it to fall down, revealing Tweety and his cage are made out of cardboard. As Granny begins to scold Sylvester, he is also revealed to be made out of cardboard. Granny then glares at Hector, who also faints. Back at the hideout, Tweety is singing "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" as the thugs try to watch TV. Someone then knocks, and turns out to be Sylvester, who is poorly disguised as a vacuum cleaner salesman, and uses his sample vacuum as a way to save Tweety. Then, as he makes his exit, the thugs' mistress catches Sylvester with the bird, beats the cat up, and Tweety back to the lair. Tweety notes that he finds the short trips refreshing. At the hotel, a worried Granny tells Hector that they have to find Tweety and get the to the Cajun Canary Crooning Competition in time before Dora the not- so- good maid comes in, saying she forgot to put some cheap candies on Granny's pillow, and angrily states that she wasn't cleaning up "...All those feathers." As it turns out, Tweety left a trail of feathers for his owner to follow, witch she and Hector do. Tweety is still at the pair when Sylvester, in a last ditch effort to save the bird, climbs up a ladder, but falls off when he tries to grab the former. Granny and Hector arrive in scene, and Granny notes to a dazed Sylvester that "...you look like something YOU dragged in!" The thugs then take Tweety and put him in their limo. Granny sees him and she, Sylvester, and Hector follow the limo containing their canary. It's revealed that the thugs took the bird to the Cajun Canary Crooning Contest, where their mistress holds Tweety and gives the boys a box, making the former get "...an uneasy feewing in my wittle gut!" Granny, Sylvester, and Hector go under the guise of members of the orchestra, and watch as a pathetically disguised Mugsy and Rocky perform as Tweety and Granny. (Rocky dresses up as Granny and Mugsy dresses up as Tweety while lip-syncing to a tape recorder of the bird singing.) A disgusted Granny goes up and makes a citizens arrest "... for fraud, kidnapping, and wearing that dress with that hat!!" Mugsy tells Rocky that "Mr. Big" wasn't going to be happy with their failure. As Granny tries to remember who Mr. Big is, "Camptown Races" starts playing, preventing her from thinking. But when she asks to turn the tape recorder off, Mugsy says that it IS off, and the former realises it is actually her beloved canary! When she locates Tweety's voice behind the door of an actor's room, she finds that she can't get the door open, and tells Hector to find a way to get it open. The latter uses Sylvester as a battering ram to knock the door down ("It'sh times like theshe when I feel unconditionally ushed!"). Granny then finds her darling canary inside, who shows her a picture of them winning last year's contest, and the runner up was Louie Z. Anna... Mr. Big! Louie comes in, grabs Tweety, and tells Granny how he planned to kidnap Tweety so he could win this year's contest! But since his plan failed, however, he decides to simply take the bird and leave the country. As Louie makes his escape, Hector comes up in front of him with a pair of symbols, and crashes the former's head in them, allowing Tweety to escape. Once again, Granny wins the Cajun Canary Crooning Contest for singing "Camptown Races," and as the villains get arrested. The cook from the restaurant sees Mugsy, who's still in his canary costume, and says that he was "...the biggest canary I have evah layed mah ahyes awn!" And begins to chase him all the way out the door. Characters Main characters: * Granny * Hector * Sylvester * Tweety Supporting characters: * Dora * Host * Jumba Laya Villains: * Mr. Big (Louie Z. Anna) * Minnie Julep * Mugsy * Rocky Other characters: * Band members * Cher * Mardi Gras goers * Police officer * Rasin' Cajun customers * Spectators ** Female spectator Locations * Louisiana ** New Orleans *** Hotel **** Granny's room *** Rasin' Cajun *** Condemned building *** Cajun Canary Crooning Competition Objects * "Brahms's Lullaby" lyrics book * Hector's false teeth * Le Times Vehicles * Ferry * Rocky and Mugsy's car Cast Notes/trivia * The title is an allusion to Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. * Sylvester originally appeared in the 1945 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Life with Feathers. * Tweety originally appeared in the 1937 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, A Tale of Two Kitties. * Granny originally appeared in the 1937 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Little Red Walking Hood. * Hector originally appeared in the 1945 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Peck Up Your Troubles, with Sylvester. * Sylvester and Tweety first appeared together in the 1947 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Tweety Pie. * Sylvester and Tweety first appeared with Granny in the 1950 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Canary Row. * Sylvester, Tweety, and Hector first appeared together in the 1947 Merrie Melodie theatrical short, I Taw a Putty Tat. * Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, and Hector first appeared together in the 1952 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Gift Wrapped. * Louie has some resemblance to Colonel Shuffle from the 1949 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Mississippi Hare, starring Bugs Bunny. * Louie Z. Anna is an obvious play on Lousianna. * The instrumentals of "Camptown Races" continued as Sylvester took Tweety and when Hector saved him, continuing a minute or so later up until the maid arrived. * The music of "Brahms's Lullaby" plays when Hector first sits on his cushion just before he puts the "Camptown Races" lyrics book in front of Tweety, giving Sylvester his plan. * When Sylvester's ladder had been crushed, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" played instrumentally a bit when he hit the ground. * The "D" on the sign on the front of the hotel may indicate the first letter of its name. * The music of "Beautiful Dreamer" plays when Hector sits back on his cushion after putting his spare teeth in and just before he puts the "Camptown Races" lyrics book in front of Tweety. * Rocky originally appeared in the 1946 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Racketeer Rabbit. Rocky and Mugsy didn't appear together until the latter's debut in the 1953 Merrie Melodies theatrical short, Bugs and Thugs. * The music of "This is the Way" plays while Sylvester pretends to be a vacuum salesman to try and save Tweety. * When Sylvester's ladder had been crushed, the music to "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" played a bit when he hit the ground. * Granny slyly remarks that Sylvester looks like something he dragged in (since he's already a cat) after finding him in a banged up state, after having fallen from Rocky and Mugsy's hideout. * Rocky and Mugsy's license plate reads "GUILTY". * Daffy Duck makes a cameo as the "yellow canary" Anna won second prize with in the previous year's competition. Cultural references * The book Granny reads at the beginning on the ferry is Gone with the Wind, a real book written by Margaret Mitchell and published in 1936. It was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1939. * Cher, who Granny believes Louie is mistaking her for (apparently she gets that a lot), when he first greets her, is known for being one half of the singing duo (and once married), Sonny & Cher, as well as being a solo artist with popular hits such as "If I Could Turn Back Time". Louie makes a reference to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe", when he says the line, "If only our love could pay the rent." * Tweety sings the songs, "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Brahms's Lullaby" and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen". Granny also sings her own version of "Buffalo Gals". Adaptations * This episode was made into a View-Master reel in 1997. Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches * Hector's bottom teeth are showing at the beginning of the episode on the ferry. * The cover of the "Camptown Races" lyrics book isn't titled until Sylvester switches it with the "Brahms's Lullaby" lyrics book. * "Brahms's Lullaby" is missing an apostrophe (and an additional "s" as some might add). Inconstitencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities * Tweety is completely understood while singing, where as he can only usually communicate through chirping. * Just a small discrepency, but Granny put her coat and hat on in the bathroom when the coat rack was just outside. * Granny's memory clearly isn't what it used to be as she didn't recognize until seeing his picture as runner-up. Perhaps Louie was counting on that when he first introduced himself to her. Home media * The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: What's New Puddy Tat? VHS released on August 26, 1996 by Warner Home Video. * Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: Was gibt's Neues Miezekatze? VHS released on July 17, 1997 by Warner Home Video. * The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries: The Complete First Season DVD set released on September 8, 2008 by Warner Home Video. Quotes Granny: "Sylvester, you look like something you dragged in." External links * Buy it at Amazon.com * Buy it at iTunes.com * Buy it at iTunes.com (UK) * Watch the official upload at YouTube (viewable only to the US) Category:Season 1 episodes